Shandong Linyi human rights defender Li Xiangyang released on bail pending trial in February 2026

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On March 28, 2026, this outlet learned that Shandong Linyi human rights defender Li Xiangyang was released on bail pending trial in February 2026.

Li Xiangyang was retaliated against for reporting official corruption and was criminally detained by local police on September 9, 2025, on suspicion of obstructing official duties, and released on bail pending trial in February 2026.

Li Xiangyang's résumé: Born in 1962, a native of Linyi City, Shandong Province, a resident of Caowangzhuang Community in Linyi's Lanshan District, formerly a middle-school teacher and an editor and reporter for a Beijing news media outlet, a whistleblower reporting official corruption, a legal litigation representative, a human rights defender, and a Chinese rights defender in custody.

He was initially a middle-school teacher; in 1994, he was admitted to the People's Procuratorate of Yishui County, Shandong Province, but school leaders obstructed him and forcibly kept him on as a teacher; because he expressed dissatisfaction, however, the school barred him from teaching and assigned him to clean the school toilets; later, because he was warm-hearted, he represented local farmers in a rights-defense lawsuit against the county government, but although he won the lawsuit, he offended certain government leaders and was detained twice by the local government under the pretext of “study”; he was also threatened and beaten several times by corrupt officials who hired and directed gang members and police to intimidate him, and he was even nearly assassinated; for his safety, he once went to Beijing to work as an editor and reporter for a news media outlet, during which time he wrote a more than 400,000-character novel reflecting rural historical and contemporary issues, titled I Am Drunk, and the Dog Is Drunk, which was published in the United States in 2007; however, through his practice of news reporting, he gradually came to recognize, in response to many injustices and social incidents, that judicial corruption was a malignant tumor endangering the country and its ruling party; accordingly, he adopted “defending the dignity of the law and challenging judicial corruption” as his life's mission and began working full-time as a litigation representative for victims of injustice, assisting them in fighting illegal officials who trampled on Party discipline and the law; from then on, he faced even greater persecution and suppression by the authorities, but in the face of threats and various coercive tactics by those targeting him, he publicly and bravely declared: “For the rule of law and democracy, I am not afraid to spend the rest of my life in prison, and I am willing to shed the last drop of my blood”;

On June 3, 2013, because he and fellow villager Yang Hailong (called a “conscientious businessman” by Shandong News Network and named one of that year's top 10 news figures, but whose Linyi Guards Security Co., Ltd. was seized by a collusion between officials and criminals) had both suffered judicial injustice and the seizure of private property through collusion between officials and criminals, and had no avenue for appeal, the two, acting as representatives in Yang's case, jointly submitted an Application for a Demonstration and March to the Linyi City Public Security Bureau, protesting illegal and criminal acts by the police and courts in Lanshan District, including reversing right and wrong, extorting confessions through torture, and rendering judgments in violation of the law; on June 9, however, he received a Decision of Non-Approval from the Linyi City Public Security Bureau, which stated that the reason for refusing to approve their application to demonstrate and march was that it “would directly and seriously disrupt social order”; he therefore immediately issued a statement saying that, pursuant to Article 35 of the Constitution, they would still “hold the demonstration and march as scheduled”; seeing their uncompromising attitude, the Linyi authorities quickly stated that a task force led by the municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission had been established for Yang Hailong's case, and the demonstration and march was ultimately announced as canceled;

On July 14, 2015, because he had written an open letter to Xi Jinping and supported detained human rights lawyers including Wang Yu, he was again taken away by police in Yishui and Mengyin counties, Shandong, on suspicion of “fraud”; he was not released until, after nearly 20 hours of torture during interrogation, he was forced to write a “statement of guarantee”;

On September 9, 2025, when he went to the Yishui Ruihai Hotel to request a meeting with the 11th inspection team of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, which had set up offices at the hotel, in order to report official misconduct by Cui Guangquan (formerly director of the Yishui County Letters and Calls Bureau, who allegedly continued drawing a salary without working for years after leaving his post and was suspected of crimes; Li Xiangyang reported him repeatedly, but the Yishui Commission for Discipline Inspection did not deal with the matter, and he is now instead a lawyer), he was unexpectedly intercepted by unidentified individuals at the hotel entrance and then violently taken away by Yishui County police and criminally detained on suspicion of “obstructing official duties”; at the beginning of his detention, he was held at the local public security brigade, with his hands cuffed behind his back and locked in a metal cage; after prolonged questioning, he developed symptoms including headaches and dizziness and was rushed to hospital for treatment, but the hospital suspected that he was showing signs of a cerebral thrombosis or cerebral hemorrhage; his family later hired a lawyer for him and applied for bail pending trial, but the application was denied; on September 25, 2025, his family learned that he had been formally arrested; on October 9, his lawyer applied for bail pending trial for a second time, but it was again denied. In February 2026, he was released on bail pending trial.

Previously detained at the Supervision Police Brigade of the Yishui County Public Security Bureau (north of Chaoyang Village, Longjiaquan Township, Yishui County, Linyi City, Shandong Province; postal code: 276405).